9 thoughts on “Camponotus impressus, a cork-headed ant”

I don’t see these often, but we have them around here. One warm June night, at the venue of last year’s BugShot, I got female alates of this and C. mississipiensis, arriving within a couple of minutes of each other at a black light.

First, if you ever see the workers in the field, their behavior and shape is a very close match for Crematogaster. Second, Crematogaster tend to have large colonies, aggressive recruitment, and effective venom chemistry. Third, both are arboreal. Colobopsis tend to have small colonies and be very timid. Who knows what the selection pressure is here (spiders? bugs? birds? all of the above and other things?).